HM the King presides over rituals to collect royal relics, ashes of King Rama IX

HM King Maha Vajiralongkorn (center) participates in religious rituals to move his father, late King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s ashes following the royal cremation ceremony. (AP Photo/ Sakchai Lalit)

His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn presided over a ceremony Friday morning, Oct. 28, to transfer the royal relics and royal ashes of the late King Rama IX from the Royal Crematorium to the Grand Palace.

His Majesty led members of the royal family to the Royal Crematorium to collect the royal relics and ashes of His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej. At the base of the royal catafalque, His Majesty made merit for his late father by offering saffron robes to high-ranking Buddhist monks and sprinkled scented water on the royal relics and ashes.

He then placed them into six reliquary urns, one of which was taken to the Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall in the Grand Palace later in the day. The other five urns will be kept by Her Majesty Queen Sirikit of the Ninth Reign, His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn, Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, Her Royal Highness Princess Chulabhorn and Princess Ubolratana.

The six reliquary urns were brought to the Royal Merit-Making Pavilion, where the Supreme Patriarch officiated at a prayer session for the royal relics. His Majesty the King then offered meals to the chapter of monks participating in the ceremony.

Together with the royal ashes, the royal relics were then carried, in the fourth funeral procession, out of the Sanam Luang ceremonial ground. The royal relics were transferred to the Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall on the Rachentharayan, or Royal Palanquin with Four Poles, while the royal ashes were taken on the Rachentharayan Noi, or the Small Royal Palanquin with Four Poles, to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha to be kept at Phra Si Rattana Chedi.

HM King Maha Vajiralongkorn, center, leads the royal procession to move royal relics of late King Bhumibol Adulyadej. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)Participants march in religious rituals to move the ashes of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Friday, Oct. 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)Royal palace officials move royal relics of late King Bhumibol Adulyadej during a royal procession in Bangkok. (AP Photo/Kittinun Rodsupan)A Thai royal palace honor guard stands in attention as men in traditional attire walk in a procession moving late King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s ashes to special locations for further Buddhist rites in Bangkok, Friday, Oct. 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)Participants march in religious rituals to move the ashes of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej from the Sanam Luang ceremonial ground to the Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)